H. Robert Wientzen will step down as president and CEO of the Direct Marketing Association this year.

Wientzen set July 1 for his departure, although he has agreed to serve until the end of the year to facilitate the transition. An executive search team consisting of current and former DMA board members will choose a successor.

“I thought I was going to retire at 64,” he said. “I told my wife I would be doing this for only three to five years. That was eight years ago.” Wientzen will be 65 in August.

Jerry Shereshewsky, ambassador plenipotentiary to Madison Avenue for Yahoo!, said that Wientzen had “one of the most thankless jobs on earth. I have only admiration for him and his recognition that there is something else than beating himself to death” over a job.

Wientzen took over the helm of the trade association in September 1996. He steered it through tumultuous years in which DMers coped with regulatory scrutiny, the dot-com boom and fallout and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“We experienced what a lot of our members [did],” Michael Sherman, vice chairman of Crosstown Traders Inc. said, referring to the drop-off in activity and revenue the organization felt after 9/11.

Sherman, who will be chairing the DMA's search committee, indicated that Wientzen's skill in government relations would be missed.

Besides his work in Washington, the organization expanded impressively, with DMA membership growing by almost 47% during his years as president. The group also opened seven chapters across the United States and acquired three trade groups — the Association for Interactive Marketing, the Internet Alliance and the National Federation of Nonprofits.

Wientzen noted, “I'm pleased with the fact the association is bigger, has more resources and is considerably more influential.

“While our industry and the DMA have faced many challenges since I came on board, it's also been a period of unprecedented growth, international expansion and technological advancement.”

As an example, he cited “the emergence of the Internet as a marketing channel for our members, large and small, for-profit and nonprofit, here and around the globe.”

“On the other hand, we've certainly had our tough times. The most frustrating part has been the inability to move things in Washington the way I'd hoped they would go.”

He added that “anyone who knows me will know that retiring was not an easy decision for me to make.”